Chapter 481: Chapter 320: Sparks of Fire (Part 2)
"They want you to defend the common interests of the Hegemony Company, the Iron Blood Alliance, and the Black Domain Group, not anything else. Your desire to be a hero makes it difficult for the higher-ups."
Sikinkov reached out his trembling hand, grabbing Jiang Zihao by the collar, shouting hoarsely: "I’ll do whatever you want me to do. If you don’t want me to do something, just tell me to stop. Why let an innocent child become a victim?!"
Jiang Zihao widened his eyes, shrugged his shoulders, and said in an especially innocent tone: "Chief, you don’t actually think that we killed that girl called Xiaotiancheng, do you?"
"No, that’s not right, it was clearly you who killed her."
"Back when you were linked during the program, you had a chance to save her—if only you had nodded to the director to cut the connection, nothing would have happened."
"She would have continued scavenging on the Edge, struggling to survive. You would continue being the admired and esteemed chief of the Public Security Bureau. Both of you had a promising future."
"But in the end? Why did she die? Because you pushed her into the public eye, made her endure attention she shouldn’t have, and in the end dragged her into the vortex where she was killed—it’s all your fault."
"Nonsense! You’re disgusting beasts, you..." Sikinkov cursed until suddenly, with a "thud," he was hit in the stomach by Jiang Zihao’s knee.
Sikinkov clutched his abdomen and fell to the ground in pain, continuously retching up bile.
Jiang Zihao put his hands on his hips and sighed: "Let’s talk nicely, no need to curse."
"You should know, the leaders value you highly because you’re indeed someone who gets things done, and you’re very capable. If it were Beiyuan Jun crossing the red line, he’d already be a corpse."
"This time, the leaders’ intentions are simple, they’re giving you a small warning since it’s your first offense, they won’t take your life or anything from you."
"You’ll remain the chief of the Public Security Bureau, just stop the previous policies and revert the Bureau to its original state."
"As for what’s already happened recently, we’ll handle the aftermath for you."
Sikinkov lay on the ground coughing and wheezing, his voice trembling: "What do you want..."
Jiang Zihao shrugged, casually saying: "Just this and that, have some Edgers create explosions and commit murder in the Inner City.
"Then have some Inner City people storm the Border Immigrant communities, randomly gunning down lucky bystanders."
"Then organize some Edgers to retaliate against the Inner City, and then organize some Inner City people to retaliate back, blah blah blah, it’s been like this for years."
He spoke with a tone so casual, as if discussing what to have for breakfast, yet in reality, thousands of families would be affected, lives that were once beautiful abruptly cut short.
And Sikinkov, the chief of the Public Security Bureau, could do nothing, only lie on the ground, eyes closed with despair.
Jiang Zihao squatted down, patting Sikinkov’s shoulder as a consolation, saying earnestly: "Chief, let me give you some heartfelt advice. Those in your position can be greedy, but not ambitious."
"I don’t understand, what’s so good about being a hero? Constantly under scrutiny, any minor flaw is criticized, how is that better than living a carefree life as a villain."
"With your capabilities, if you just help us properly, you can have everything—money, women, anything you want. Why insist on being a hero?"
"If you really want to be a hero, I can talk to the leaders and find a way to give you another medal of excellence, one isn’t enough, three or five even, you could become the most decorated in the history of New Moon City."
"But, Chief, listen to my advice. You can become anything, just don’t become another Alan, otherwise no one can help you, no one can save you."
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88th floor of Edge Mansion, Su Mo’s room.
Sikinkov sat in front of a pile of empty bottles, already drunk beyond hope, yet still continuously pouring alcohol down his throat.
Su Mo sat opposite accompanying him, not drinking much, just silently listening to him recount his past experiences.
Sikinkov supported his head, drunkenly saying: "Brother, you know, ever since joining the City Council, I’ve been a typical politician, talking grandly in meetings every day, making decisions based on data from reports."
"But ever since transferring to the Public Security Bureau, having to frequently visit the grassroots, I’ve seen all kinds of people. The more people I meet, the more I realize the terrifying nature of data."
"The data we have is just a mass of numbers, a math game played by a bunch of old men sipping tea and coffee, making decisions by the numbers."
"But in reality, behind each of those numbers is a living person. That’s when I started feeling I couldn’t continue as I had, and needed to truly do something."
At this point, Sikinkov covered his face with his hands, his voice trembling slightly: "You must have watched that program too. Do you know what touched me the most? That child called me a hero."
"Hero... haha... hero... that was just a bowl of dog food Zhao Yiming casually tossed me. Even when I received that medal of excellence at the award ceremony, I didn’t feel like a hero."
"But when that child looked at me with clear eyes, saying I was her great hero, for a moment, I truly felt proud."
"I started asking myself, is there something I, as chief, can do, can I become a real hero."
He tugged at his hair forcefully, anguish written all over his face, letting out a roar of unwillingness: "But in the end, I realized, I not only couldn’t be a hero... I couldn’t even protect a child who admired me!!!"
Su Mo pursed her lips, softly consoling: "But this wasn’t your fault, you’ve already done your best."
Sikinkov took a swig from the bottle, then smashed it on the table, starting to laugh sinisterly: "No, no, no, it is my fault, I made one mistake."
"My mistake was when Zhao Yiming invited me for tea, I didn’t just shoot him in the head!"
"If I had shot him, that child wouldn’t have died... my sister-in-law wouldn’t have been poisoned and manipulated by him... it’s all my fault..."
Su Mo knew Sikinkov was talking nonsense under the influence of alcohol.
She took away the remaining bottles on the table, patting Sikinkov’s shoulder: "That’s enough, you’ve had too much tonight."
Sikinkov grabbed the alcohol back without a word, continuing to drink.
As he drank, his gaze became more dazed, tears welled up in his eyes, and he cried while laughing bitterly: "Brother, I’m telling you, this city is beyond saving."
"Not just this city, the whole world is beyond saving. As long as those three giant corporations exist, people in this world have no way to survive."
Watching the grief-stricken Sikinkov, Su Mo’s gaze deepened: "No, you’re wrong, it’s not."
"This world is indeed under the shadow of the giants, but there’s fire in the darkness, scattered and isolated, not yet united."
"The more they try to extinguish these fires, the more they prevent them from coming together, showing their fear of them."
"If you want to become one of these fires, don’t be afraid of them, don’t let them defeat you, hide yourself, don’t perish silently in the darkness."
"Hide myself..." Sikinkov laughed bitterly, asking, "Then what? How long do I hide?"
Su Mo looked out the window, the mottled city lights reflected in her eyes, as if flames were burning: "Hide until one day, when the sparks set the prairie on fire."
"The giant corporations think they can control everything, but they don’t know that everything they do will be remembered by history."
"All the sins they’ve committed will eventually need to be repaid. And I promise you, that day isn’t far away."
